Drug Policy Alliance

Achievement Awards

Every two years, we recognize the accomplishments and commitment of individuals and organizations responsible for outstanding drug policy reform work through the Awards for Achievement in Drug Policy Reform.

Thanks to the generous support of Richard Dennis, we are pleased to announce that we are holding a special Award Dinner and Ceremony on Friday, November 13 from 7:30 pm to 10:30 pm at the Hyatt Regency Albuquerque.   Dinner includes a four course meal and wine courtesy of Hugh Thacher and the San Francisco Wine Exchange. The cost for the dinner is $75 in advance and $95 at the door (if available). 

It is with great pleasure that we announce the 2009 award recipients.  Please scroll down or click on a specific award to view the winners.

The award categories are:

Award	Eligible
The Richard J. Dennis Drugpeace Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Drug Policy Reform	Individuals
The Edward M. Brecher Award for Achievement in the Field of Journalism	Individuals and Organizations
The Alfred R. Lindesmith Award for Achievement in the Field of Scholarship	Individuals and Organizations
The Robert C. Randall Award for Achievement in the Field of Citizen Action	Individuals and Organizations
The Norman E. Zinberg Award for Achievement in the Field of Medicine	Individuals and Organizations
The H.B. Spear Award for Achievement in the Field of Control and Enforcement	Individuals and Organizations
The Justice Gerald Le Dain Award for Achievement in the Field of Law	Individuals and Organizations
The Dr. Andrew Weil Award for Achievement in the Field of Drug Education	Individuals and Organizations

The Richard J. Dennis Drugpeace Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Drug Policy Reform
This award is given to the individuals who most epitomize loyal opposition to drug war extremism.

Donald MacPherson, former Drug Policy Advisor to four successive Mayors of Vancouver, Canada

Past Awardees:

• 2007 Rev. Howard Moody, minister emeritus of Judson Memorial Church, Greenwich Village, NY; senior minister 1956-1992
• 2005 Ross C. “Rocky” Anderson, mayor of Salt Lake City, UT
• 2003 Philip Owen, former Vancouver mayor; Pierre Claude Nolin, LL.L., member of the Canadian Senate; Larry Campbell, M.B.A., mayor of Vancouver
• 2001 Gary Johnson, former governor of New Mexico
• 2000 Kevin Zeese, president, Common Sense for Drug Policy
• 1999 Arnold S. Trebach, founder of the Drug Policy Foundation and professor emeritus at American University in Washington D.C.
• 1997 John B. Vasconcellos, California state senator
• 1996 Sasha and Ann Shulgin, authors of the psychedelic research books Pihkal and Tihkal
• 1995 Jocelyn Elders, former U.S. Surgeon General
• 1994 Gustavo de Greiff, former prosecutor general of Bogotá, Colombia
• 1993 Frank M. Jordan, former mayor of San Francisco, CA
• 1992 R. Keith Stroup, executive director, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML)
• 1991 Milton Friedman, economist and Nobel Prize winner
• 1990 Jon C. Parker, founder of the National AIDS Brigade of Boston, and Dave Purchase, founder of the needle exchange project of the Tacoma-Pierce Health Department
• 1989 Kurt L. Schmoke, M.D., former mayor of Baltimore, MD

The Edward M. Brecher Award for Achievement in the Field of Journalism
This award honors those in the media who question official drug war propaganda. 

Montel Williams, medical marijuana advocate and host of Montel Across America, nationally sydicated by Air America Radio

Past Awardees:

• 2007 Alan Bock, opinion editor for the Orange County Register and AlterNet, Webby Award-winning progressive news portal and information source
• 2005 Jacob Sullum, senior editor of Reason magazine and Maia Szalavitz, journalist and senior fellow at media watchdog group STATS
• 2003 The Economist, one of the most respected weekly publications covering business and political news
• 2001 Dan Forbes, investigative journalist, and Dan Gardner, reporter for the Ottawa Citizen and Vancouver Sun
• 2000 Rolling Stone Magazine, one of the nation’s leading magazines on music, politics, and pop culture
• 1999 Ofra Bikel, producer of PBS Frontline’s “Snitch,” and Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation and Reefer Madness
• 1997 Garry Trudeau, cartoonist
• 1996 Hugh Downs, Emmy Award-winning news anchor
• 1995 Catherine Crier, Emmy Award-winning journalist and former Texas judge
• 1994 William Finnegan, staff writer for The New Yorker

 

The Alfred R. Lindesmith Award for Achievement in the Field of Scholarship
This award recognizes scholars, like Alfred Lindesmith, whose personal courage and quality of published research constitute a source of rational inspiration for all who labor in drug policy scholarship. 

Jeffrey Miron, PhD, Harvard economist

Past Awardees:

• 2007 Harry Levine, Ph.D., professor of sociology at Queens College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York
• 2005 Martin Jelsma, coordinator and founder of the Drugs and Democracy Programme at the Transnational Institute (TNI)
• 2003 Marc Mauer, M.S.W., assistant director of The Sentencing Project
• 2001 David Vlahov, director of the Center for Urban Epidemiologic Studies at the New York Academy of Medicine and expert on the history of HIV infection among injection drug users
• 2000 Lynn Zimmer, co-author of Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts
• 1999 Mike Gray, author of Drug Crazy, and Craig Reinarman, author of Crack in America: Demon Drugs and Social Justice
• 1997 Peter G. Lurie, University of Michigan researcher and needle exchange advocate
• 1996 Patricia Erickson, author, research scientist, and director of the Canadian Drug Policy Research Program
• 1995 Dan Waldorf, author of Cocaine Changes: The Experience of Using and Quitting and senior scientist at the Institute for Scientific Analysis
• 1994 Stanton Peele, psychologist and author of numerous books including 7 Tools to Beat Addiction
• 1993 Peter Cohen, researcher at the Center for Drug Research at the University of Amsterdam
• 1992 Ethan Nadelmann, J.D., Ph.D., author of Cops Across Borders and former Princeton University professor
• 1991 Dr. Thomas Szasz, psychiatrist and author of Ceremonial Chemistry: The Ritual Persecution of Drugs, Addicts, and Pushers
• 1990 Lester Grinspoon, M.D., Harvard Medical School professor and author of Marihuana: the Forbidden Medicine
• 1989 Rufus King, Esq., pioneer of humane drug policy and author of The Drug Hang-Up: America’s Fifty-Year Folly
• 1988 Edward M. Brecher, author of Licit and Illicit Drugs: The Consumers Union Report on Narcotics, Stimulants, Hallucinogens, and Marijuana – Including Caffeine

 

The Robert C. Randall Award for Achievement in the Field of Citizen Action
This award honors citizens who make democracy work in the difficult area of drug law and policy reform.

Howard Lotsof, discoverer of ibogaine's antiaddictive effects, patient activist, president of Dora Weiner Foundation and author of the Ibogaine Patient's Bill of Rights; and

Deborah Small, executive director, Break the Chains: Communities of Color and the War on Drugs

Past Awardees:

• 2007 Cliff Thornton, primary speaker and founder of Efficacy, Inc.
• 2005 DrugSense, a nationwide network of volunteer drug policy reform activists.
• 2003 Allan Clear, executive director of the Harm Reduction Coalition
• 2001 Mikki Norris, Chris Conrad, and Virginia Resner, authors of Shattered Lives: Portraits from America’s Drug War and founders of Human Rights 95, Cannabis Consumers, and Green-Aid; Randy Credico, activist for the William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice, Inc.; and Nora Callahan, executive director of The November Coalition
• 2000 Diana McCague and Harry Simpson, founder of the Chai Project in New Jersey
• 1999 Elvy Musikka, medical marijuana patient and advocate, and one of only eight recipients of medical marijuana through the federal marijuana program
• 1997 Sandee Burbank, founder of Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse; Cheryl Simmons, expert on women and addiction treatment and incarcerated women’s issues; Imani Woods, educator at Progressive Solutions and the Harm Reduction Coalition, and Lennice Werth
• 1996 Joyce Rivera, founder of St. Ann’s Corner of Harm Reduction, a needle exchange program and center in the Bronx, NY
• 1995 Dennis Peron, author of Proposition 215 and founder of San Francisco Cannabis Buyers’ Club; Edith Springer, clinical director of the New York Peer AIDS Education Coalition
• 1994 Jack Herer, activist and author of The Emperor Wears No Clothes: Hemp and the Marijuana Conspiracy; Louis Jones, founder of STANDUP Harlem, Inc.
• 1993 Julie Stewart, founder and president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums
• 1992 Richard Bradbury, activist against abusive treatment tactics and founder of Community Improvement, Inc.
• 1991 Barbara and Kenneth Jenks, national co-chairs of Marijuana AIDS Research Service and pioneer advocates for medical marijuana treatment for AIDS patients
• 1990 Arnold and Mae Nutt, medical marijuana activists whose late son used medical marijuana for chemotherapy-related nausea
• 1989 Robert Randall, the first medical marijuana patient under the now-defunct federal program

The Norman E. Zinberg Award for Achievement in the Field of Medicine
This award recognizes medical and treatment experts who perform rigorous scientific research and who have the courage to report their findings even though they may be at odds with current dogma.

Dr. Martin Schechter, physician, researcher and national director, Canadian HIV Trials Network

Past Awardees:

• 2007 Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch, MSW, director of the International Harm Reduction Project at the Open Society Institute
• 2005 Valerie and Michael Corral, medical marijuana activists and founders of the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana
• 2003 Rick Doblin, Ph.D., founder of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
• 2001 Drs. Thomas Zeltner, Ambros Uchtenhagen, Margret Rihs-Middel, Robert Haemmig, and Andre Seidenberg, a Swiss team of medical specialists conducting Switzerland’s heroin maintenance trials
• 2000 Jose Alvarez de Choudens
• 1999 Vincent P. Dole, professor emeritus, Rockefeller University
• 1997 Dr. Kathleen M. Foley, pain specialist and director of the Project on Death in America and Dr. Carey Stratton Hill Jr., Open Society Institute
• 1996 Hans Vissert
• 1995 Ernest Drucker, professor of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine
• 1994 Robert G. Newman, M.D., president of Beth Israel Medical Center
• 1993 Herbert M. Klein, a Circuit Court judge in Florida who developed drug courts
• 1992 Alex Wodak, M.D., former director of Alcohol and Drug Service at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, Australia, and founder of the first needle exchange program in Australia
• 1991 Prevention Point, a model needle exchange program in San Francisco, CA
• 1990 John Marks, Pat O’Hare, and Allan Parry, Liverpool activists who produced the Mersey, England harm reduction model
• 1989 Andrew Weil, M.D., clinical professor of Internal Medicine, University of Arizona College of Medicine, and author of From Chocolate to Morphine: Everything You Need to Know About Mind-Altering Drugs

The H.B. Spear Award for Achievement in the Field of Control and Enforcement

This award is given to those involved in law enforcement who have demonstrated a balanced regard for the needs of enforcement and human compassion.

Peter Christ, co-founder and vice director, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP)

Past Awardees:

• 2007 Norm Stamper, Ph.D., Seattle police chief 1994-2000, author, and Law Enforcement Against Prohibition speaker
• 2005 Jack Cole, founding member and executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
• 2003 Commander Brian Paddick, Metropolitan Police Authority, London, United Kingdom
• 2001 Patrick Murphy, former police commissioner of New York City
• 2000 Gilbert Puder, Vancouver police officer and instructor at the British Columbia Police Academy
• 1999 Terence Hallinen, San Francisco district attorney
• 1997 Peter Frerichs, vice president of the Frankfurt, Germany Police Department and Dr. Hans Korner Harald, public prosecutor, Frankfurt, Germany
• 1996 Thomas Frazier, city police commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department
• 1995 Rob Hessing, chief of police, Rotterdam, Netherlands
• 1994 New Haven Board of Young Adult Commissioners, Community Liaison Group for the Police, New Haven, CT
• 1993 Werner Schneider, Paul Vasseur, Dr. Horst Bossong, and Ueli Locher—drug policy coordinators of Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Hamburg, and Zurich, respectively
• 1992 Joseph D. McNamara, Ph.D., research fellow at the Hoover Institution in Stanford, CA, and former police chief of Kansas City, KS and San Jose, CA
• 1991 Nicholas Pastore, former police chief of New Haven, CT, and advocate of harm reduction strategies
• 1990 Eddy L. Engelsman, former Dutch drug czar and proponent of humane drug policy
• 1989 H.B. Spear, former chief inspector in the Drugs Branch of the British government.
• 1988 Wesley A. Carroll Pomeroy, former assistant director of the DEA and former Drug Policy Foundation board member

The Justice Gerald Le Dain Award for Achievement in the Field of Law
This award is given to those involved in law who have worked within official institutions when extremist pressures dominate government policies.

Hon. Jeffrion L Aubry, New York State Assembly member, chariman of the Assembly Corrections Committee and advocate for Rockefeller drug law reform

Past Awardees:

• 2007 Libby Davies, Canadian Member of Parliament for Vancouver East since 1997
• 2005 Vanita Gupta, NACDL attorney who played a pivotal role in the Tulia, Texas pardons
• 2003 Congressman John Conyers, Jr., J.D.
• 2001 Lynn Paltrow, executive director of the National Advocates for Pregnant Women
• 2000 John Kane, Jr., federal judge, Denver, CO
• 1999 Eric Sterling, president, Criminal Justice Policy Foundation
• 1997 Connecticut Law Revision Commission
• 1996 John Morgan, co-author of Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts and professor of Pharmacology, City University of New York Medical School
• 1995 Patrick Hallinan, prominent San Francisco defense attorney who has been active in high-profile and political issues involving the conflict between the exercise of governmental power and individual liberty
• 1994 Michael Moore, founder of the Australian Parliamentary Group for Drug Law Reform and member of the Legislative Assembly, Australian Capital Territory
• 1993 James P. Gray, judge in the Superior Court of Orange County and proponent of drug legalization
• 1992 Tony Serra, Esq., renowned criminal defense attorney who defended needle exchange workers; Michael Michaelson, J.D., M.D., who successfully defended a Massachusetts medical marijuana patient
• 1991 Robert W. Sweet, federal judge, New York
• 1990 Gerald Le Dain, Canadian Supreme Court Justice, 1984-1988, and chair of Canada’s landmark Commission of Inquiry into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs
• 1988 The Law Firm of Steptoe and Johnson, attorneys for Robert C. Randall, the first recipient of the federal medical marijuana program

The Dr. Andrew Weil Award for Achievement in the Field of Drug Education
This new award is given to those involved in drug education who have promoted honest, science-based drug education in place of ineffective scare tactics based on myths and deceit.

Marsha Rosenbaum, PhD, director emerita of the Safety First Project and of the San Francisco office of the Drug Policy Alliance

Past Awardees:

• 2007 Rodney Skager, Ph.D., author of Beyond Zero Tolerance: A Reality-Based Approach to Drug Education and School Discipline
• 2005 Carla Niño and Pat Klotz, leaders within the California State Parent Teacher Association (PTA) who championed positive drug education reform measures